1 Ch 1: The Girl with the Rose Eye

In the depth of my mind.

I appear in a place that's been damned by God himself.

A place where everything you've ever loved...

Turns into a gruesome hell.

That where I'll be.

Trapped in my castle of torment, locked in a thrown of thorns.

Just, waiting...

Waiting for someone to save me from my kingdom of despair.

Someone, like you to come.

After all...

You've always promised you would.

...

She couldn't tell you how long she slept there before she heard something tapping against the backseat window. Slightly opening her dry eyes, she softly groaned at the sound. She lifted her head off the car seat cushion, only to lay it back down again. Assuming it was just droplets of rain hitting against the glass. She covered her ears with a short black jacket she'd used as a pillow, trying her best to smother the sound. But a moment later, a muffled voice called out.

"Oh, Veronica!" sung the cheerful voice. "Wakey' wakey' sleepy-head, it's time to get up and smell the roses."

Moving the leather jacket slightly off her face, she could see someone looking at her through the car window. A brown-haired girl, waving at her with a smile. She didn't recognize her nor how she could know her name. However, her memory was a little bit, hazy, to say the least. So, there was a chance that they met at some point and she just forgot about it.

She lifted herself off the brown cushion, feeling a little groggy. Adjusting her white, button-up shirt and black bowtie, she moved her short but thick brown bangs out of her face and around her ear. She quickly rubbed her eyes, removing what remains of tears she'd shed the night before. Seeing the light fog outside, she grabbed the light jacket before opening the brown car door. The unknown girl took a step back, letting Veronica open the car door open with ease, giving her a bright smile.

Putting on her jacket as she stepped out into the fog covered parking lot, Veronica examined the mystery girl in front of her. She was no older than sixteen by her best guess, only a couple years younger than Veronica was. Her skin was freckled and extremely pale, almost to an unnatural degree. Her long and thick hair laid on her right shoulder curled slightly at the ends.

Placed on top of her head was a small, red top hat that has a white front and black buttons. She wore a short-sleeved, white blouse with a black bow that's connected to a red rose pendant, and a red skirt with white ruffling and black rose to lace. Matching it was her long white stockings and shiny black flats. On her hands was black and white gloves, going up arms and stopping close to the blouse.

But one glaring detail about the girl was her eyes. The left eye was an unnatural shade of silver, but that seemed reasonable compared to the other. There, where her right eye should be, there was instead a beautiful red rose. At first, Veronica just assumed it was just a hand-crafted eyepatch or some prop. But the longer she looked at it, the more she realized that the rose bloomed within the girl's skull. She could even see some part of what remained of her eye under the petals, showing that the rose torn her eye into pieces.

Veronica took a step back, unable to lay her eyes off the crimson rose that cover the top-right side of the girl's face. She tried to hold back her gag as she swallowed the large lump that formed in her throat.

Seemly unfazed by Veronica's disgust, the rose-eyed girl stepped closer towards her. Veronica took another step back before the abnormal girl lean towards her, tilting her head slightly to the left.

"Did ya' get it?"

Veronica stared in confusion. "What...?"

"The letter, silly, did you get her letter?"

Her letter... Veronica felt a cold wave of dread going down her neck. No, it couldn't be... There's no way she's talking about-

The rose-eyed girl glanced over her shoulder, looking into the brown car that Veronica forgot to close behind her. Prancing around Veronica and towards the vehicle, the rose-eyed girl quickly searched the car with her one eye, taking note of every detail in the car. It only took her a second before noticing the ripped, stained envelope that laid on the gray carpet floor next to a small pile of stain paper. The girl's eye lit up with excitement.

"You did!" she said in glee, spinning in a circle before prancing towards Veronica. She grabbed her hands, causing Veronica to move back in response as the girl leaned in closer. Her eye glimmered with joy while a strong smell of French vanilla filled the air.

"I'm so glad you did! It would be an absolute shame if you didn't. She spent SO much time pouring her heart and soul into it you wouldn't believe. I had difficulty fitting it all of it into the envelope because there was so much to put in. In the end, I'd had to put it in a bigger-"

"Wait... you're the one who sent it?" Veronica interrupted. Pulling her hands-free from the girl's grip, giving the girl a shocked glare.

"Yep."

The rose-eyed girl's hat started to vibrate, causing her to take it off. She reached deep into the hat and scrummage through it like it was a handbag. "It's kind of hard to explain, but let's just say that she couldn't send it herself... Ah-ah!"

The rose-eyed girl pulled out a giant golden pocket watch with rose carvings. Clicking the clock open and glancing at it before letting out a gasped. "Oh no, I'm late! I need to feed the hounds before noon!"

"What?" asked Veronica, previously lost in deep thought.

The rose-eyed girl darted pass her, prancing down to the far end of the parking lot. The fog moved away from her, almost like it was alive. Veronica shook her head before reaching out towards the girl.

"Hey, wait!" Veronica shouted, trying to run after her, tripping over a pothole and falling hands first onto the cement ground. Lifting herself up, she could see a shadowy figure of the rose-eyed girl within the fog, far off in the distance. She could hear the girl call out to her followed by an ego. "See ya' around, Veronica!"

Before she knew it, she was gone. Disappeared into the fog and left Veronica alone, baffled and wanting answers. She lifted herself off the ground, rotating herself over to sit down and inspected her legs. There were no signs of any brushing or scrapping, but her right leg was sore from the fall, so she sat for a moment before getting off the ground. Turning towards the direction where the rose-eyed girl went, she noticed that the fog had slightly lifted since the girl left. Revealing that beyond the parking lot was a stone staircase, leading down to a dirt trail that leads to the deep unknown.

Brushing off some dirt off herself, she walked back to her car, stepping over the pothole as she did so. Once there, she leaned in and grabbed the envelope and the pile of paper. She sat down at the edge of the back seat, stared at the papers with wholesome eyes before folding them gently into the envelope. The envelope had four words written in black ink.

To: Veronica

From: Holly

Placing it in the inner pocket of her jacket, she reached the front passenger seat to grab a gray messenger-bag covered with buttons, setting it on her lap. Going through her bag, she made a mental note of all the items there were. Let's see here... A flashlight, my polaroid camera, a bottle of stale water, two full packets of Oreos, my swiss-army knife, and-

Her heart skipped a beat, her entire body froze at the sight of it. There, in underneath a pack of Oreos was silver, Beretta 84fs, her father's Beretta 84fs. Her father was a mad gun collector, so was her mother. They both cared about guns more than the air they breathe. But it didn't explain why it was in her bag. Both were very careful about their weapons, not because of her, but because the guns cost a fortune. There was no way they could misplace anyone them, and Veronica didn't need it for self-defense because she has her pocket knife on her all the time. She couldn't wrap her head around it.

How the hell did this get in there? She thought, pulling the gun out from her bag and gawked at it. Without a second thought, she hunched over the front seat, opening the small glove box and shoving the gun into it before slamming it shut.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she stepped back outside, grabbing her bag as she did so. Closing the car door and locking it, she put her bag around her should. She stared into the mist, feeling a growing dread crawling down her body. Overcoming her dread, she quickly chased after the rose-eyed girl.

End of Chapter 1